Monsters
Tales of Monsters are stories of ravenous, pursuing beasts, with terrible strength and an unerring sense of their prey. Often, tales of monsters are tales of betrayal and vengeance, and punishment for broken promises or dishonor. Tales of Monsters are favored by the Ogre Seeming. Innate Powers Contracts of Might * Might of the Terrible Brute (Monsters *) – no roll required (reflexive). The current Strength-based action gains a number of dice equal to the character's rank in Tales of Monsters, and also gains the Rote quality. * Ogre's Rending Grasp (Monsters *) – Strength + Brawl + Monsters. Each success reduces the Durability of an object by 1 for the rest of the scene, for the purposes of the character's attempts to damage it. * Display Grandiose Might (Monsters **) – Presence + Athletics + Monsters. On a success, the character's Strength is increased by his rank in Tales of Monsters for all non-combat purposes (including calculating Speed, climbing, jumping, carrying objects, and so on) for the remainder of the scene. On an exceptional success, the character also gains the 9-again quality on all non-attack rolls involving the Strength Attribute. Gargantuan Kith Ogres automatically fulfill this Clause's Catch while enlarged. * Primal Challenge (Monsters **) – Strength + Intimidation + Monsters – highest Resolve. On a success, anyone with intent to fight the character is compelled to step forward, while everyone else is compelled to back away. On an exceptional success, non-combatants flee at top speed, while opponents rush headlong into an all-out attack as their first action, forgoing their Defense and subtracting the character's Wyrd from their Initiative. * Red Rage of Terrible Revenge (Monsters ***) – Resolve + Expression + Monsters. Each success adds +1 to the character's Strength, Initiative, Stamina, and Armor by 1 for the rest of the scene, and reduces his wound penalties by 1. Contracts of Pursuit * Seven-League Leap (Monsters *) – Strength + Athletics + Monsters. Each success allows the character to jump, run, climb or swim 15 feet horizontally or 8 feet vertically, but only while moving towards someone the character intends to attack. * Fee, Fie, Fo, Fum (Monsters *) – Wits + Survival + Monsters. On a success, the character knows the direction and rough distance to the person they are pursuing, so long as there is any evidence that could be followed to track them. Cyclopean Kith Ogres automatically fulfill this Clause's Catch. * Legs Like Jelly (Monsters **) – Presence + Intimidation + Monsters. Each success subtracts one from the victim's Speed, who must be within line of sight or hearing of the character. * Inexorable Pursuer (Monsters **) – Stamina + Athletics + Monsters. The character gains +1 to Speed per success, and may additionally ignore one point of wound or exhaustion penalties per success. On an exceptional success, the character's Speed is set equal to their target's Speed + 1 for the remainder of the scene, if at any point it would otherwise be lower. * No Escape (Monsters ***) – Presence + Survival + Monsters vs. Composure + Wyrd. Each success causes the victim one mishap while attempting to escape during the next scene – doors jam, cars won't start, crowds or parades block their path, they become disoriented and take a wrong turn back towards their pursuer, and so on. The storyteller is encouraged to be creative. Contracts of Hunger * Rending Bite (Monsters *) – Stamina + Brawl + Monsters. The character adds his Wyrd to his bite attack damage, and his bite may deal full lethal damage to inanimate objects. * Steel Gullet (Monsters *) – Stamina + Survival + Monsters. The character gains the ability to swallow and digest anything. Steel, concrete and glass are all equally palatable, and the toxicity of all ingested poisons is reduced by the character's Wyrd. If a weapon is bitten into, compare the weapon's damage bonus with the character's Wyrd – for each point of damage bonus over the character's Wyrd, they take one point of damage from the weapon (usually from sharp bits, detonating bullets, or the like) as they destroy it. Attacking a target's weapon subtracts the target's Defense from the Clause's activation roll. * Spitting Mad (Monsters **) – Stamina + Firearms + Monsters – Defense. The character may hurl a recently bitten-off or swallowed object at an opponent by spitting it out of his mouth. The range is equal to the character's Strength in yards, and damage is bashing or lethal depending on the hardness and sharpness of the object. * Gluttonous Feast of Health (Monsters **) – Stamina + Survival + Monsters. The character must consume a massive amount of food while activating this Clause. Each success converts two levels of lethal damage or one level of aggravated damage into two levels of bashing damage. Gristle-grinders may activate this Clause while dealing damage with a bite attack to heal one level of bashing damage, convert one level of lethal damage to a level of bashing damage per lethal health level inflicted by their bite. Activating the Clause in this manner costs the Gristle-grinder their action for their next turn. * Swallow Whole (Monsters ***) – Stamina + Athletics + Monsters. The character may attempt to swallow a single object whole, regardless of its Size, but must achieve a number of successes equal to the object's Size to fully swallow it. If a character attempts to swallow another creature, subtract that creature's Defense from the Clause's activation roll. Swallowed creatures slowly suffocate and take the character's Wyrd in automatic bashing damage each turn, but may attempt to “claw their way out” by rolling Strength + Brawl or Weaponry – the character's Stamina + Wyrd, dealing one damage per success. Once a number of lethal health levels of damage equal to the character's Size have been dealt, the victim may attempt to claw their way out of the hole with a Strength + Athletics roll, again penalized by the character's Stamina + Wyrd.